This week I took my friend Kelly’s 10-year-old daughter, Hannah, to the mountains for a few days. She had a particular desire to pick blueberries, so we spent the night at my parents’ house in Rabun Gap and raided their bushes. Then a couple of days later we went to our friends Hank and Susan’s house out Hwy 76 and raided their bushes.

This is a lot of blueberries. And seeing as how 2010 is Fruit Year, I’ve been dreaming up ways to use lots of blueberries. And seeing as how it’s been too hot for too long this summer, I dreamt up a blueberry ice cream recipe.

There are quite a few blueberry ice cream recipes out there. But years ago my mom gave me a blueberry pie recipe that included cinnamon, so I decided to try adapting that flavor into my ice cream. Here’s the recipe I concocted:

Auntie Allison’s Blueberry Cinnamon Ice Cream

1 cup of fresh blueberries

1/4 cup of sugar (more depending on sweetness of berries)

1/2 tsp lemon juice

3/4-ish tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 cups regular cream

1 cup milk

1/2 tsp vanilla

another 1/2 cup sugar

Combine the berries, the 1/4 cup sugar, the lemon juice, and the cinnamon in a saucepan over low heat. Mash some of the berries and stew them until slightly thickened. Remove from heat and set aside for the moment.

Combine the milk, cream, vanilla, and 1/2 cup sugar in a small bowl and whisk until sugar is dissolved. Drain some of the liquid off of the stewed blueberries and pour the liquid into the milk/cream mixture.

Put milk/cream/berry juice mixture into your handy kitchen countertop home ice cream maker and let it do its happy little rumbly churny dance for about 25 minutes. Then add the remainder of the blueberries and let it churn for another 5 or so minutes until thickened to soft-serve consistency.

Makes 1 quart of delicious ice cream.

My intrepid Australian Shepherd, Caleb, also was amazed and delighted to discover that he likes blueberries, thanks to Hannah’s and my mother’s teachings. They also taught him to eat them right off the bush.

2 responses to “We Found Our Thrill . . .”

I have 2 questions of Aunt Allison: Because of the huckleberry attraction here in Montana, and because I have a favorite flavor from one of the local ice cream shops (Huckleberry, yes) I wonder if you think there would be reason to change your recipe in order to substitute Huckleberries.

And would you tell me more about this handy counter top ice cream maker. My parents used a manual ice cream maker which required more brawn than I have.

I don’t think you’d need to change a thing about the recipe! Huckleberries, as I recall, are as sweet as blueberries. The main thing, I think, is to taste-test your stewed berries before draining the syrup into the cream mixture. If they don’t seem sweet enough, add more sugar.

I bought the Cuisinart 1.5 quart ice cream/frozen yogurt maker and I love it! No brawn required; just keeping the special bowl in the freezer between uses.